Showcase By Richard Avedon

“Allen Ginsberg’s Family,” made on May 3, 1970, at the Alexander Hamilton Hotel, in Paterson, New Jersey, is one of four enormous murals that Richard Avedon produced between 1969 and 1971. The works are united in an installation at the Gagosian gallery designed by David Adjaye, which reserves space for a wealth of related material. Prints from Avedon’s 1963 session with Ginsberg—in which the poet and his lover, Peter Orlovsky, are seen nude, hugging and kissing—portray the antic other side of the genial family man, posed here with his aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews. The occasion was a father-and-son reading to celebrate Louis Ginsberg’s new book of poems. Louis, book in hand, appears twice: once, at the far right, next to Allen’s stepmother, Edith, and, again, on the left, with his other son, Eugene, who wears a bow tie. Digging around the roots of the sexual revolution, Avedon found a family sharing poetry and cake beside the American flag.♦

Vince Aletti reviews photography exhibitions for Goings On About Town.